Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Various Artists


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   keep. No arguments for deletion aside from the nominator. The idea of merging this to Compilation album does make some sense but not enough people suggested it to slap a big purple tag on the article. Ron Ritzman (talk) 00:55, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

Various Artists

 * – ( View AfD View log )

I can't see this being anymore than a dicdef. The article basically consists of several iterations of "It means several artists worked on the album/song/etc.", making it not only a dicdef but also a tautological one. Previous AFD in 2008 resulted in soft redirect to Wiktionary. Ten Pound Hammer • (What did I screw up now?) 18:22, 31 March 2012 (UTC) Keep Compilation album is just one fraction of what is the concept of Various Artists. What you perceive as Various Artists is close to "Now That's What I Call Music" series or "Best of.." or "10th Anniversary" type of albums. These are what you call "compilation albums". But Various artists can be just a single and not an album at all. For example there are charity SINGLES which may be done by Various Artists. For example single by US Aid for Africa, etc. How can such a Various Artists single be a compilation album? Another example are original soundtracks of films done by Various Artists. There may be 2, 3 or 10. In no way is an original soundtrack done by various artists a "compilation album". Sometimes we have various artists but only one is mentioned and we add and "Friends" (another name to Various Artists actually). The single "That's What Friends Are For" is a song by various artists, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder. But the credit is done as "Dionne & Friends". Do you actually suggest this "Dionne & Friends" single is a "compilation album" or is it a single by Various Artists? Live concerts releases in which Various Artists take part are not "compilation albums" Woodstock was an album from various live performances. Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More. Does it mean it is a compilation? Or it is an original album? I think redirecting "Various Artists" to "compilation album" is restrictive to say the least, and worse, misleading AND inaccurate. The better way is to expand on the article as it stands now, rather than suggest a hasty delete redirect in favour of a confining limiting concept of so-called "compilation album". As for the previous Previous AFD in 2008, the dicussion was confined to 4-5 opinions and decision was made. Surely such a wide concept need much more discussion by participants before reaching a decision. The level of discussion passed there 4 years ago leaves me very dissatisfied. It is obvious the true issues and complexities were never tackled there as far as I am concerned. My hope is that this time around, a more in-depth discussion is passed before coming to a conclusion. Meanwhile I suggest more contributors try to develop the article as it stands today. werldwayd (talk) 04:20, 1 April 2012 (UTC) werldwayd (talk) 04:41, 1 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Compilation album.&mdash; Chowbok  ☠  21:50, 31 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Whoa there, lay back on the filibuster. If you're gonna textwall, at least use some policy based discussion and not opinion. Ten Pound Hammer • (What did I screw up now?) 04:27, 7 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Music-related deletion discussions.  • Gene93k (talk) 00:38, 2 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.


 * Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Ron Ritzman (talk) 01:07, 7 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Keep/merge The point of the WP:DICDEF policy is not to delete anything. Its point is that we should organise our topics by their meaning rather than by their title or name.  Other articles such as compilation album are related to this topic and use the phrase.  Merger in such cases is more sensible and that is our actual policy. Warden (talk) 18:12, 7 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Keep per all above. It's not possible to make a concise dictionary definition that would cover all of the meanings of the term... if someone wants to, it should be on Wiktionary, not here.  And the wiktionary article wikt:various artists seems to have been deleted in 2009.  And likewise, Various Artists is not just a synonym for compilation album, so redirecting it there would help no one unless we also copied all of the other info from this article there.  I created this page as a redirect in 2009 because I thought it was just a synonym; I only know better because we have a separate article now.  (This is why the AfD notice went to me instead of the actual creator.)  ☮  Soap  ☮  12:26, 13 April 2012 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.